


Key To My Broken Heart

by ScarletBane



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Cheating, Dating, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, M/M, Seven Minutes In Heaven, Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare, love heals the broken heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-24
Updated: 2013-01-24
Packaged: 2017-11-26 18:37:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletBane/pseuds/ScarletBane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU, Derek Hale is a senior in Beacon Hill’s High School who has absolutely given up all hope in love. Stiles Stilinski is a sophomore in Beacon Hill’s High School and is totally certain of love at first sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Key To My Broken Heart

Derek was quietly reading a book, when his older sister Laura barged into the room. “Hey there little bro, can we talk?” It was clearly a rhetorical when she made herself a seat on Derek’s bed, positioning herself right next to Derek.

Derek gave her a death glare. “I’m reading.” He growled.

“I see that.” Laura pulled her long shiny black hair into a pony tail and tied it.

“What do you want?”

“I just want to talk.”

Derek nonchalantly stared at her.

Laura sighed and placed a hand gently on Derek’s knee cap. “Little bro… ever since… you know… that stupid Argent bitch… Kate happened; you just turned into a whole different person. Before you used to go out, you had friends, you came home smiling, and you actually _talked._ Now all you do after school is lock yourself in your room and read, or whatever.”

Derek only scowled at her. She knew he didn’t like it when his sister or anyone in general brings up the _bitch._

Two years ago, in his sophomore year of high school, Derek had fallen desperately in love; in fact he had fully believed that he had found the love of his life.  She was the same age as him and she was beautiful… Derek had remembered her smile was more enticing than the sparkling stars in the night. Her name was Kate Argent and they had been together for about a year and a half and Derek was at his happiest during his time with her. As junior year was coming to an end, something happened that would completely flip Derek’s world upside down. It was a warm June night when Derek was heading over to Kate’s house to surprise her with a gift. Derek and Kate had always shared an interest in animals, especially wolves, so Derek had bought her an adorable stuffed wolf doll with silver fur, he was so sure that his girlfriend would love the gift.  Kate’s parents weren’t home that night, but Derek had keys to the house because Kate had given him a spare due to _how immensely in love they were_ … Or at least “thought” they were… When Derek headed upstairs to Kate’s room and opened the door, he stared in horror at the atrocious sight. His girlfriend whom he loved more than life itself was cheating on him. She was clearly having sex… with two other guys. She was having a fucking _threesome._ After taking in the scene, Derek barged out of the house and ran the whole way home, almost ripping the wolf doll due to tightness of grip, tears pouring from his eyes. Derek had never felt so disgusted with anyone in his life, he never felt so stupid, but most of all, he felt utterley and completely _betrayed._ Ever since that night… Derek had lost all hope in love.

“Derek… Please, don’t let one person ruin your life.” Laura spoke softly.

Derek looked away from his sister and continued to read.  He was in an even crappier mood now then he was in before. His sister had just come into his room, brought up the _bitch,_ and forced Derek to replay the shitty memories all over again in his head. Crap, now he was in such a sour mood, he didn’t even want to read anymore. “Please, go away, Laura.” Derek gritted his teeth.

Laura sighed, and then frowned, got up, and left the room.

That night, like many other nights since the _incident,_ Derek fell asleep painfully slowly, his tears staining his pillow as he clutched tightly onto the very same wolf doll (with the silver fur) to his chest, his mind flooded with the pains of the past _. He was so sure that she would love the wolf doll… complete idiot Derek Hale. Oh how Derek wanted to just throw the plushie into the trash because it reminded him of the night; the love of his life betrayed him.But no, he couldn’t… instead he just held on, he held on tightly to the wolf doll every night since, held on to the accursed memories, cause he just couldn’t let go._

~

The next morning felt like suicide. Derek literally dreaded waking up in the morning, especially for school. It had been the start of senior year in Beacon Hill’s High School and it was a crappy start.  Derek wasn’t a social person to begin with, but after the _bitch,_ Derek had totally given up on public interaction of any sort. His morning classes consisted of Calculus (which was utterly boring), AP English, AP Chemistry, and Gym (in which he actually kind of enjoyed because his best friend Boyd was also in the same gym class and they would talk while working out and such.)  Then Derek would have lunch where he sat by himself and ate by himself, anybody who attempted to sit next to or near him would be greeted with a death glare and would just leave immediately. The afternoon classes went by a little more smoothly as it consisted of Art and Music Theory. It felt like forever before classes finally ended and Derek drove back home in his black Camaro.  He kind of hated his Camaro since the darn car was where _they_ first made love… He remembered when he was passionatley kissing her neck, carressing her long curly blonde hair. That was when she first told him that she loved him. Her voice was so soft and tender, so sincere… _fucking lying snake._ Derek mentally kicked himself, he felt terrible for always thinking about the evil _bitch._

When he entered his home, he found the house empty, apparently his parents were at work (they worked in a local Zoo in Beacon Hills) and his sister was God knows where. But Derek didn’t care. He stalked up to his room, banged the door close, and began on his homework. He started his calculus homework first and when he got stuck on solving the second problem; his mind immediately went to Kate.  Back when they were going out, Kate would always help Derek with his math homework… Angrily Derek flung his calculator onto the wall and it smashed into pieces.

Derek got up to clean up the mess, when suddenly his phone began to ring. He picked up on the third ring.

“Sup bro.” It was Boyd.

“Yea?” Derek replied indifferently.

“Okay, so listen, let’s do something tomorrow.”

Derek was about to reject the idea when Boyd continued to speak.

“So my friend Lydia Martin is throwing a small gathering tomorrow night at her mansion and she said I can invite a friend, so I’m inviting you.”

“I don’t think-“

“There will be free drinks. C’mon man, you need to go out, stop locking yourself up in your room, doing God knows what.”

Derek thought about his sister’s words and how upset she was that day and he finally agreed to go to the _gathering._ “Fine. When is it?”

Derek could practically _hear_ Boyd smiling from the other line, “I’ll pick you at 7 pm, dress nice, you might meet someone. Laters bro.” And Boyd hung up the phone.

 _Meet someone? Yeah fucking right_ … 

Derek rolled his eyes.

~

The next day 7 o clock pm came too soon, way too soon. Derek took a quick shower, pulled on a pair of jeans, a white t shirt, and a leather jacket.  He told his family that he wasn’t going to stay for dinner. As he walked out of the house, through his peripheral vision, he could see his sister grinning. Derek rolled his eyes and found Boyd in his car waiting.

Derek hopped into the car and they drove off.

Lydia’s mansion was quite… sizeable.  She was a sophomore in Beacon Hill’s High, Derek didn’t actually have any connections with her, however his best friend Boyd’s girlfriend Erica Reyes was also a sophomore and was good friends with Lydia.

When Boyd rang the doorbell, a blonde girl with huge eyes outlined with thick black eyeliner opened the door. She had an apple in her hand.

“Hey babe!” Boyd hugged his girlfriend.

“Come in boys.” Erica cooed, when Boyd walked in first, Erica’s eyes wandered all over Derek’s _personal_ space. She curled a lock of hair with her free hand. Derek could’ve sworn she was flirting with him, but he shook it off.

The mansion was in fact very spacious, filled with elegant furniture and artwork. Derek felt out of his comfort zone as he followed Boyd and Erica upstairs.

When they strode up the stairs, loud music filled the whole second floor.  The music came from behind a door with a glittery pink sign that read **Party Room _._** Erica led the two boys into that room.

Once inside the room, the music intensified, there were a whole bunch of kids from Beacon Hill’s High School hanging around; mingling and eating snacks.  Derek and Erica followed Boyd over to a bunch of seniors grouped up near the snack and drinks area.

“Sup guys!” Boyd greeted the seniors.

Derek recognized most of them from school. “Danny, Isaac, Matt, Jackson.” Derek nodded to each of them.

“Hey Derek.” Danny smiled as he handed Derek a Bud Light.

“Thanks.” Derek took a sip from the bottle.

“So what’s up with you Derek? Haven’t seen you in a while bro.” Isaac shoved a chip in his mouth.

Derek shrugged. “Nothing much. Same old same old.” Derek hated small talk. Hell, he hated talking in general. Derek began to question why he even accepted coming here in the first place, when abruptly a strawberry blonde haired girl with bright red lip stick barged into the group.

“Hey babe.” She practically threw herself onto Jackson.

Jackson grinned as he wrapped his arms around her.

Derek automatically assumed this was Lydia Martin, she had a rich girl vibe and she clearly wasn’t ashamed to flaunt it.

“Hey who’s this?” Lydia leered at the seniors.

“That would be my best friend, Derek Hale.” Boyd answered.

“Oh? I’ve never seen you before.”  Lydia raised a brow.

“Well he is a senior.”  Boyd placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder.

Lydia shot a glare at Boyd. “Psh… I _know_ seniors.” She splayed a finger over Jackson’s chest. “Whatever, you guys have fun, I’m going to go back to my _sophomore_ friends.” Lydia rolled her eyes. And with that she sashayed away.

“She’s a keeper.” Danny grinned.

“Shut up. She is hot.” Jackson rebuked.

“So hot.” Matt looked like he was drooling.

Jackson smacked Matt in the back of the head. “She’s mine.” He growled.

Derek turned to his best friend. “Boyd, I’m going to go find the bathroom.”

“Sure thing, I’m going to go look for my girl.” Boyd took off to the other side of the room.

Derek turned to leave the party room. As he was walking, Lydia grabbed onto Derek’s arm. Derek almost shook her off due to reflexes. He hated it when people touch him without his consent.

“Hey Derek.” Lydia cooed.

“Lydia.” Derek nodded.

“You have a moment?”

“Um, I kind of have to use the bathroom.”

Totally ignoring Derek, Lydia pulled him over to what Derek assumed was her group of sophomore friends.

“Guys, meet Derek. He is a senior.” Lydia placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder. Derek fought the urge to shrug her off, he didn’t want to come off as rude, but he freaking hated how this Lydia girl is invading his space.

“Hello there, I’m Scott.” A tan skinned boy with a big goofy smile reached out his hand.

Derek nodded and shook his hand.

“This is my girlfriend Allison.” Scott pointed at the black haired girl next to him. She was strikingly pretty, but something about her seemed eerily familiar…and not in a good way either… But Derek shook it off.

Derek’s eyes suddenly fixated on the boy standing next to Scott. He was tall, almost as tall as Derek, gangly, buzz cut, and big brown eyes. “Hi. I’m Stiles.” The boy spoke as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his red hoodie.

“Hi.” Derek smiled awkwardly. Oh crap. Derek mentally kicked himself… did he actually smile? For the first time since the _bitch,_ Derek had actually smiled.  He couldn’t quite figure out what in the world was going on in his head that actually made him… _smile._ “Um. I gotta go pee.” And with that Derek walked away from the group.  He felt the tips of his ears burning as he walked out of the party room.

~

As the night progressed, the food and alcohol was nearly depleted and most of the guests were gone. Only Erica, Boyd, Jackson, Isaac, Matt, Scott, Allison, Stiles, Derek, and Lydia remained. By this time everyone knew each other’s names.

Lydia clapped her hands and called out “Okay everyone! This is when the real fun begins!” She smiled wickedly.

Everyone gathered around Lydia. Derek followed Boyd.

“So I’m going to assume that we are all pretty tipsy, and if you aren’t then get the fuck out of my mansion, cause we are going to play some _games_. We can either do Truth or Dare or Spin the Bottle.” Lydia spoke with excitement.

“How about we play both?” Erica spoke up first.

Lydia lets out a girly shriek as she clapped her hands. “Yes! Good idea!” Her cheeks were flushed, she was clearly drunk.

Everyone made a circle as Lydia placed an empty Bud Light bottle in the center. “Okay! Remember now! You HAVE to kiss the person that the bottle picks for you!” Lydia reminded them of the rules of spin the bottle.

The bottle was spun, and the first person it picked was Scott. Lucky for him though, the next victim the bottle chose was his very own girlfriend Allison.

“That’s bull shit, what fun is that?!” Jackson yelled out loud.

Scott chuckled as he got up to kiss Allison. Allison returned the kiss, her cheeks reddening. Scott was Allison’s boyfriend, so Derek assumed that she was blushing because she probably wasn’t used to PDA or something.

“Okay okay, sit back down!” Lydia rolled her eyes. She hastily spun the bottle once again and this time it chose Lydia herself.  Lydia clapped her hands in glee.

The bottle was spun again and everyone sighed at the same time when it pointed at Jackson.

Practically everyone in the room rolled their eyes as Jackson got up, walked over to Lydia, pulled her up to her feet and kissed her… No, Derek didn’t even think it counted as a kiss, it was more like Jackson and Lydia were slobbering all over each other, tongue all over the place.

“Eww, gross.” Erica blurted out.

Jackson and Lydia smiled big when they finished their _business_ and got back to their seats. Lydia’s red lip stick was smeared all over Jackson’s mouth.

The game continued where the bottle started picking more _fun_ pairings, ones that didn’t involve two people who actually went out... Like Danny and Jackson were picked, it was a bit hesitant at first, but Danny and Jackson were best of friends and they were both drunk as fuck anyways and they kissed.

Then things got a bit interesting when Erica and Allison were picked. Allison was very hesitant about kissing Erica, but Erica didn’t seem to mind. Although Boyd seemed a bit jealous of the situation. Scott on the other hand looked as though he was a bit too eager for this girl on girl kiss.

Derek who really didn’t want to be there in the first place, was a bit amused by this game. That is… until the bottle finally picked him… Derek’s heart rate spiked. He really didn’t want to kiss anyone, especially the people in this circle… _well… unless_ … Derek shook his head wildly; this wasn’t him thinking… it was the alcohol…

“Bout time you get picked, bro.” Boyd playfully smacked Derek’s back.

Derek nervously watched as Lydia placed her fingers on the bottle in preparation of another spin. A wicked grin splayed across her face.

The bottle was spun and after a few seconds, the bottle finally chose Derek’s partner.

Derek’s eyes widened in shock.

The bottle tip pointed in the direction of the gangly teen in the red hoodie.

It was quite surprising to Derek because out of everyone in the room, Stiles was the only one he actually _preferred_ to kiss, but that was also the reason why he didn’t want the bottle to pick Stiles…

“Yay! It’s Stiles!” Lydia almost jumped up in glee.

Everyone in the circle focused their gazes onto Derek then Stiles and back to Derek again.

It was the most awkward 10 seconds of Derek’s life as he looked into the big brown eyes of the person he was supposed to _kiss._

Derek quickly looked away, his cheeks flushed. But a slight movement coming from Stiles caught his attention.

Derek took a gulp as Stiles slowly go up to his feet, making his way over to Derek.

 _No, no, no, I don’t want to do this…_ _but maybe… I do…_

“Hey Derek?” Stiles’ hand brushed Derek’s shoulder, waking Derek from his thoughts.

Derek could practically hear his own heart beating like the wings of a humming bird…or was that Stiles’ heart beating too?

Derek looked up into Stiles’ hazel eyes; he observed Stiles’ face up close and took notice of the birth marks on Stiles’ soft pale skin.

“Um, so… we are going to do this, or what?”

Derek scanned the room; everyone’s faces held eager expressions.

Suddenly everyone began to chant together. “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

“God dammit! Get it over with already!” Jackson blurted out.

Stiles’ cheeks were pink and his eyes were closed as he leaned in slowly for a kiss.

Derek’s mouth dropped slightly…

_Oh God… something inside him actually wanted this kiss…_

Abruptly, Derek stumbled backwards just as Stiles’ lips were 2 inches away from Derek’s.

Derek quickly shot up from the floor and threw his hands in the air. “I really, really have to go pee… again. Sorry guys.” Derek quickly turned to leave the party room once more to go to the bathroom. He didn’t turn back to see Stiles’ dumbfounded face when he realized he had just kissed the air, or what the others were doing,  but he did hear a bunch of shouts here and there that included “Wow, party shitter.”, “Quitter”, and even “Pussy”.

But Derek didn’t care what the others were saying now. He was confused. It was just one little kiss, besides everyone else was doing it… it was all just fun and games… but what frightened Derek was the fact that…

_He actually wanted to kiss the boy…_

Derek locked himself in the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water, hoping to drown away his thoughts of Stiles.

Derek was _not_ ready for these _feelings_ again.

~

After a few minutes, Derek hesitantly walked back into the party room, only to find everyone else staring at him; Derek had never seen so many scowls ever in one room. Derek was careful not to make eye contact with Stiles.

“Welcome back fraidy-cat, Erica snorted.”

“Hurry and get over here.” Lydia beckoned a slender finger. “We are going to play truth or dare.”

Derek mentally rolled his eyes. Well at least in this game, he didn’t have to do anything he was uncomfortable with doing, well as long as he picked truth… And Derek was planning on making up lies anyways. _Stupid party games._

“Okay, okay. Danny, truth or dear?” Lydia announced.

Everyone watched with eager faces as Danny rubbed his chin, thinking hard between the two choices. 

“Oh. My. God. Hurry up man!” Jackson lifted his Bud Light in the air.

“Dare!” Danny proclaimed.

Lydia scratched her scalp. “Hmm. I dare you to… lick Boyd’s cheek!”

Everyone started laughing at once, everyone except Boyd.

“Its okay babe, I won’t get jealous… to be honest, I think it’s kinda hot.” Erica brushed a finger across Boyd’s chin.”

Danny smiled as he got up and walked over to Boyd.  He bent down and lapped his tongue over Boyd’s cheek.

Boyd sat there, his eyes staring into space. He blinked a few times. “Well, that wasn’t that bad.” He finally said.

Everyone liked Danny.

The game went on until everyone was picked. Everyone had chosen dare and they were forced to do something stupid, like licking the floor or eating plant dirt or something in that nature.  A few dares included kissing another person again, in which Derek rolled his eyes, what was the difference between Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle if they just wanted to see each other lip lock with each other.

Finally Derek was picked. His brain told him to pick truth, but since all the others picked dare…he felt the need to redeem himself, he was already branded a ‘pussy’ for backing out on spin the bottle. Derek didn’t want to feel like the odd one out. So he picked dare _. Fucking peer pressure._

A wide wicked grin splayed across Lydia’s face once more. This girl could pass for a malevolent witch, Derek thought to himself.

“Well Derek…” Lydia crossed her arms across her chest. “Since you skipped spin the bottle, your dare is going to be extra… _fun._ ”

Derek took a gulp. His nerves began to jolt.

“I dare you… to… play 7 minutes in Heaven with…” Lydia pointed a finger straight at Stiles.

Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _Of course it would be Stiles._

“Fine.” Derek stood up. It was probably the alcohol kicking in that gave him the courage to take the dare and not run away again. Besides it couldn’t be that bad, he and Stiles didn’t have to do anything they didn’t want…

Derek peeked a glace over at the boy in the red hoodie.

Stiles had gotten up to his feet in a matter of seconds, he was clearly terrible at hiding his enthusiasm. “Okay I’m ready.” Stiles patted his pants flat.

Derek scanned the room for a closet in the Party room. After finding the closet door, he walked towards it, but Lydia stopped him.

“Oh no, no. The Party Room closet is way… too spacious… We have a smaller, more intimate closet down the corridor outside.” Lydia snapped. “Come boys, follow me.”

Derek scowled at the strawberry blonde, as he and Stiles followed her outside the room. Stiles was walking right next to him, their shoulders touching every so often.

Derek could hear the rest of group giggling.

~

7 Minutes of Heaven started when Lydia closed the closet door shut when Derek and Stiles got in. It was the first 20 seconds and Derek was sweating beads. Lydia was certainly not lying about the space of the closet, the compartment could barely hold a cat, and Derek bit his lip.  Derek sat in front of Stiles, their limbs forced to intertwined, Derek couldn’t see a thing, and it was completely dark.

Stiles voice filled the cubicle. “So… I’m guessing we aren’t going to really do much… so um… wanna just talk or like do you wanna just sit awkwardly here for the whole 7 minutes in silence… But I got to warn you though; I have a little problem with keeping still.”

Stiles wasn’t kidding, the boy couldn’t stop moving, and Derek could feel little gestures from Stiles, from tapping of the foot or rearranging of sitting positions.  And for some odd reason; Stiles’ constant shuffling, it did things to him…

“Sorry.” Derek blurted out.

Derek could almost make out Stiles’ quirk his brow in the total darkness. “What for?”

“For being so boring at this party.”

“Nah it’s cool. But since your actually talking to me now, I gotta warn you, I do love to talk...”

The kid really couldn’t stop talking. In a matter of 3 minutes, Stiles had rambled on about practically his whole life story.  He lives with his father, who was a police officer, his mother passed away when he was really young. He had ADHD and is on Adderall. He is best friends with the she-devil, Lydia. His favorite ice cream was cookie dough. His favorite color was red. His goal in life was to be happy, but career-wise, he wanted to be a restaurant owner. Apparently the kid loved to eat; ironically he was as thin as a stick though. He loved music, he listened to all genres, he was a video game addict (his favorite gaming system was the Play Station 3 and his favorite game was Devil May Cry 3) and he also loved to read. That was most of what Derek got in, when Stiles finally shut his mouth.

There was about another 4 more minutes left in 7 minutes in heaven.

“So how about you?” Stiles asked eagerly.

Derek stared into the darkness; his hand accidentally brushed something hard, most likely Stiles’ leg or something. “Um… I’m eighteen… and um… I live with my parents and my sister Laura.” Derek cringed at how bad he was at small talk.

“Hm… are you okay Derek? You seem a bit tense. I got an idea! I am totally awesome at massages. Lydia always begs me to massage her all the time. Here let me at it.” Before Derek could decline the offer, Stiles had already positioned himself behind Derek. (How Stiles managed to squeeze through and get in that position? Derek had no idea, but it did include a lot of shifting, arm-leg manuevoring, and rubbing against each other.)

Derek felt the long slight fingers trace his neck down to his shoulder blades. 

Derek immediately tensed at the touch at first, but when Stiles diligently worked his hands on Derek’s neck and back, Derek unconsciously let out a sigh of indulgence. Stiles really kneaded into the right pressure points. Derek felt his muscles relax. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

“See… I told you I’m good.” Stiles whispered his breath warm on Derek’s ear.

For a moment Derek fell into a stupor of tranquility. It felt really _nice._

_20 minutes had passed._

Derek’s eyes fluttered open, it seemed like he had drifted off to sleep. He was now leaned back, he felt two arms wrapped around his chest. He quickly jerked up.

“Oh hey, you’re awake.” Stiles voice was calm, his tone even.

Derek rubbed his head, “How long has it been…”

Stiles shrugged his shoulders, I honestly don’t remember. You just fell asleep during my massage and I didn’t want to wake you up… and ugh.” Stiles nervously rubbed the back of head. “Crap… you must think I’m a creep now.” Stiles cursed under his breath.

Derek quickly turned around to face Stiles, even though all he could see was totally blackness. “I think it passed 7 minutes, I think we should go, why didn’t they come for us?”

“I don’t know. But yea, let’s get out of this closet, hey by the way… Derek…”

“Hm?”

There was a few seconds of silence. “I really think you’re cute…” Stiles said softly.

A bit horrified at the confession. Derek quickly untangled himself from Stiles, got up and located the doorknob. He jerked the door open, the light almost blinding his eyes.

Tentative at first, Derek turned and reached out a hand to Stiles, to help him get up. Then he quickly found his way back to the party room. He said nothing to Stiles. All he could think about was the fact that he probably spent way too long in that closet with the boy, and that he enjoyed the massage _way too much._ But worst of all… he kind of thought Stiles was _cute_ too…

No, no, no. This can’t be happening.

Derek stormed into the party room.

“Hey you guys are back, how was it? You do know you guys spent a lot more than just 7 minutes in that closet right?” Lydia spoke out.

Derek ignored her. He ignored the rest of the group. He went straight toward Boyd and growled. “Let’s go. I’m tired.” As he dragged Boyd out of the room and out of the mansion.

For the first night ever since the _cheating incident_ , Derek fell asleep in his own bed without thinking about Kate. There was no midnight sobbing, instead he dreamed of the color red and the tingling sensation of a really good damn massage.

~

The next morning, Derek awoke and prepared himself for school. As he was driving, he couldn’t help but replay the event that happened last night.  The way Stiles’ fingers felt on his body and the fact that he fell asleep on him. _Freaking fell asleep._ Derek banged hard on the steering wheel. God, he felt so stupid.

When he arrived at school, Boyd immediately appeared in front of him.

“Derek my man, so you gotta tell me, what happened last night?”

Derek continued to walk to through the hallway, shoving past bustling kids. “What?” he said without looked at his best friend.

Boyd tried catching up behind Derek. “Don’t act like you don’t know… The closet, man. 7 minute minutes in Heaven? Or should I say break-the-rules-cause-you-so-spent-like-30-minutes.”

Derek felt his spine shiver. “Oh God, was it really that long?”

Boyd placed a heavy hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Yea, I hope you used protection.”

Derek’s jaws dropped, he grimaced at his friend. “Don’t even fucking joke like that, Boyd.”

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t like him. I’m your best friend man, I saw how you looked at him, and it was the same look you used to give…you know who, before she did what she did.”

Derek turned to his best friend. “Don’t talk about her.”

“Sorry, but it’s just, I want to see you happy again man, give him a chance. Besides he actually likes you back.”

“W-what?” Derek cringed at how incline he sounded.

“Well I talked to Lydia and you know she is Stiles’ best friend. Well she told me that Stiles has a super-sized crush on you, ever since he saw you last night at the party.”

Derek remembered Stiles’ remark on how Stiles thought he was _cute._

“Um… I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Okay, don’t kill me but… I kind of gave your number to Lydia and she gave it to Stiles.”

“WHAT!” Derek howled, almost knocking the kid next to him into the wall.

Boyd somehow disappeared from the scene.

~

For the rest of the day, Derek’s mind was on his cellphone. He thought about when Stiles would call him, or if he would actually make a call at all… Derek hoped that he would be too wary to call, but somewhere deep inside; Derek was curious and a little bit of him wanted the call.

Either way, his cell phone wasn’t going to stop him from carrying on with his day. When he got back home, he decided to take a drive to Staples to pick up a new calculator (since he smashed his the other day.) As he walked out of the door, his phone rang. _His phone fucking rang._

He stopped dead in his tracks and anxiously pulled out his phone from his jean’s pocket. He stared at the screen for a good 10 seconds before picking up the call and putting the phone to his ears.

“Hello?” Derek spoke uneasily.

“Derek?” a familiar voice came from the other line.

“This is Derek.”

“Oh! Hey there Derek, what’s up? This is Stiles by the way. You know, Stiles from yesterday’s party at Lydia’s? The one who played 7 minutes in Heaven with you. Although we probably spent way longer than 7 minutes, but whatever, you remember me right?”

_Oh my fucking God. He actually called._

“Hi Stiles. I remember.” Derek felt something swirling in his stomach.

“Um… so what are you doing right now?” Derek could hear a slight pinch of nervousness in the boy’s voice.

“Nothing much really, I’m actually heading out to go pick up a calculator?”

“Oh? What for?”

“Well, I got yelled at today at math class because I kind of didn’t have a calculator.” Derek didn’t mention that he broke his calculator during a fit of anger.

“Ha, who doesn’t bring a calculator to math class?” Stiles laughed.

Derek didn’t respond.

“Oh, sorry. Derek, you’re still there right?”

“Mhm.”

“So listen, if you want, you don’t have to buy a new calculator, I have a brand new TI-84 at home. I could totally lend it to ya.”

Derek thought for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“Yup! You can come pick it up at my house.”

“Uh. Sure.”

Stiles had given his home address to Derek over the phone before they hung up.

Derek walked into his car. Before he ignited the engine, he thumped his forehead on the wheel. _What have I done…?_ Taking a deep breath, Derek began to drive to the address leading to Stiles’ home.

~

He immediately spotted the tall gangly kid standing on the block waiting for him. It wasn’t hard to spot Stiles when he was wearing the same bright red hoodie and waving his hands like a lunatic.  Derek couldn’t help but suppress a chuckle.

Derek rolled down his car window. “Hey.”

“Hi there Derek!” Stiles tone was filled with glee. He raised the expensive calculator through the window.

Derek reached out to take the TI-84 but Stiles continued to grip tightly to the calculator. Derek quirked a brow at Stiles.

“So, what class are you taking?” Stiles smirked.

“Um… Calculus.” Derek tried gently pulling on the calculator, but Stiles held on with no intention of letting go any time soon.

Ignoring the tugging; Stiles’ face lit up. “Oh dude! I love calculus. I’m actually taking AP Calculus right now!”

“Aren’t you a sophomore?” Derek narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Yep! But I’m like a math wizard. Well not literally a wizard… but then again I do play a druid in World of Warcraft. Man, last night’s raid was intense! Do you play WoW? If you don’t you should totally try it out, totally addicti-“

“Stiles. Calculus?”

“Oh sorry, um yea, not to sound sound cocky, but I think I was like born to do math or something. I’m just really good with numbers. I’m taking AP Calc right now because I’ve taken most of my math courses earlier. Hey, if you want, I can totally help you out with your math homework?”

Derek bit his bottom lip. Something in him really wanted to accept the offer… but… _Kate_ used to help him with his math homework… Derek winced at the dreadful memories. He quickly shook them off. If Derek was going to start forgetting, he was going to have to start anew.

“I have cookies. I just baked them fresh. Chocolate chip.” Stiles’ face was brighter than the Sun.

_Oh my God, he bakes…_

“Fine, I mean sure, I’ll accept. Thank you.” Derek couldn’t find himself denying the puppy, _the really, really adorable puppy offering to help him with math homework and feed him cookies. Chocolate. Chip._

Stiles couldn’t hide his elation; his grin enveloped his whole face. “You can park the car in our driveway; my dad won’t be back home for a while! We can study in my room; I hope you brought your books and such!”

Stiles’ home was warm and very inviting. The smell of fresh baked cookies filled the air.

“Wait here, I’m going to get the cookies and then we will head up to my room.” Stiles quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

In a few seconds, he appeared again with a large plate of chocolate chip cookies, enough to feed a family of five, at least.

Derek remembered from the party that Stiles had said he only lived with his father (who was a police officer) and that his mother had died when he was young. “Wow, that’s a lot of cookies you made.” Derek began to assume that maybe Stiles was anticipating company…

Stiles offered the plate to Derek. “Yea, well my dad and I love chocolate chip and I don’t sound cocky but… I kind of make the best cookies in the world…”

Derek half smiled. “Oh yea?” Derek was skeptical at first when he observed the plate. The cookies were extremely oddly shaped; none of them were perfectly circular at all. Some of them even had black burn marks on the sides.

 Derek looked up at Stiles’ eager stare, and then looked back down at the plate; hesitantly he took a cookie and bit off a piece.

  _Holy shit._ The cookie was delicious. Despite the imperfect physical shape of the cookie and the burnt edges, the inside was warm and chewy, the chocolate melted in his mouth.  Apparently Stiles did in fact; know how to bake amazing cookies.

“Alrite! Let’s head up!” Stiles beckoned for Derek to follow him upstairs.

~

Derek had never seen so many posters in one room ever, in his life.  Stiles’ room was like the complete polar opposite of Derek’s. While Derek’s room was barren with just a bed, a lamp, and a drawer for his clothes and books, Stiles’ room had a whole bunch toys/junk lying around everywhere and there were a whole lot of posters plastered all over, even on the ceiling.  The prints were of famous singers, bands, superheroes and cartoons, some Derek could recognize, but the majority of them were a mystery to Derek.

“Sorry, I forgot to clean up, I didn’t really expect any guests.” Stiles placed the tray of cookies on a stack of comic books.

Derek walked over to a table with lots of peculiar trinkets and toys splayed across the hard surface. A long white light saber with a shiny silver handle (Derek recognized this from Star Wars) caught Derek’s eye. He almost placed a finger on the handle when Stiles immediately shouted from across the room.

“Hey! Careful with that! It was expensive as hell, I remember saving like a year’s allowance for that. It’s a Darth Vader light saber movie replica prop.”

Derek immediately withdrew his hand. “Sorry.”

“Nah its cool, you can totally play with my light saber if you want… Oh, that came out wrong, no homo, um, I mean sorry, I didn’t mean it like _that,_ like in a negative interpretation, cause I’m gay myself, well not really _gay,_ but bisexual…” Stiles stopped his mouth when he Derek raised a brow at him. Stiles scratched the back of his head, his cheeks bright as an apple. He sucked in a breath. “Ooh, it got awkward didn’t it? Yea… I’m just going to shut up now.” Stiles shoved a cookie in his mouth and then he started choking.

It was actually kinda adorable how Stiles was fumbling all over himself.

“You okay there?” Derek raised another brow.

Stiles coughed a few times into hand before he responded. “Y-yup.” His voice hoarse.

Derek had never met anyone so... eccentric… ever. But oddly enough, Derek kind of _liked_ it.

Giving Stiles a minute to gather himself, Derek continued to explore the strange cavern of Stiles Stilinski. He immediately spotted a Taylor Swift cd case lying around in the open. Derek lifted the disk case and pointed it towards Stiles. “Really, Stiles, really?”

Stiles shifted his head to the side when he saw his cd in Derek’s hand. “What? I love Taylor Swift. She is like the best!”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Isn’t she for like 12 year old girls and teeny boppers?”

Stiles mouth gaped open in disbelief. “Oh c’mon Derek! Music is music…”

Derek shifted his eyes away. “I guess…”

“And I bet you didn’t even give her a chance, you should listen to a song, and Taylor Swift is fucking amazing.”

Stiles took a few steps closer to Derek and took the cd from his hand. “Her songs speak to me…” Stiles whispered as he held the cd close to his chest.

Derek suppressed a laugh. “Yea? Like about what?”

“Love.” Stiles eyes were wide and glistening.

And that was it. Derek couldn’t hold it in any long. He bursted out laughing.

Stiles scrunched his eyebrows; his face was red and clearly insulted.

“I-I’m s-sorry.” Derek said in between giggles. He raised a hand in the air and took a deep breath, trying to keep a straight face.

“What?” Stiles looked Derek directly in the eyes. “You don’t believe in true love?” his tone was even.

Derek took a moment to collect himself before he answered. “Nope, I did believe once… but I soon realized that there is no such thing. It’s all bull shit.” Derek crossed his arms.

Stiles’ stare never left Derek’s eyes. “Yea… well… I believe. Yea, I listen to Taylor Swift, and I have faith in fairy tale love stories, soul mates, passionate romance and love at first sight, all that _bull shit_ , I believe in all of it…”

Suddenly Derek felt the vibe of the conversation had totally turned from a casual teasing about Taylor Swift music to a full on devout argument on the views of affection.

Derek snorted. “Yea well kid, you listen to way too much Taylor Swift then. I mean, have you ever even fallen in love?”

Stiles crossed his arms and finally broke eye contact. He stared at a corner of the room, and Derek could barely hear his mutter under his breath. “Yes, I did.”

For the rest of the afternoon, the two boys stopped their argument and actually started working on the math homework. Stile was not lying when he said he was a math wizard, as a matter a fact Derek had been persuaded to believe Stiles was some kind of math prodigy. Half way through the work, Stiles announced that he was getting extremely bored and proposed an idea to play some music, Taylor Swift music. Derek wanted to protest against it, but gave up when he realized it was Stiles’ home and his rules.  So the two of them sat on Stiles’ bed to complete the last half of the math homework while Taylor Swift music filled the room. Derek had never heard so much about breakups, sappy relationships, kissing in the rain, something about Romeo and a princess or whatever, all that sentimental bull crap, all represented in several songs. The soppy crap made him almost nauseous.

“You seriously like this music?” Derek elbowed Stiles next to him.

“Oh shut up.” Stiles continued to punch in numbers in the calculator. While bobbing his head to the beat of the melody.

When the homework was finally complete, Derek was actually sad to say it was over. Despite the soppy playlist (in which Derek swore he would never listen to a Taylor song again) Derek actually enjoyed being in the company of Stiles. Sure they were just doing math homework (math being Derek’s most hated subject) but they had cookies, and every now and then Stiles would say something funny, which made Derek laugh wholeheartedly. Derek missed actually laughing… and being with someone…

Just as Derek was about to leave, Stiles’ father comes back home from work. Stiles introduced the two and things became pretty awkward when the Officer Stilinski asked his son, “Stiles, this your boyfriend?”

“DAD! You don’t just go asking things like that!” Stiles waved his arms in the air.

“Oh, sorry son.”

His face red as a tomato, Stiles pulled on Derek’s arm, dragging him outside the house and slammed the door shut before Derek even had the chance to say good night to Officer Stilinski. Stiles scratched the back of head. “So…”

“Thank you. For the tutoring, the calculator, and the cookies.”

“It was a pleasure, Derek.” Stiles grinned.

“Oh but screw you for making me listen to a whole album full of that gushy crap you call music.”

Stiles mouth gaped as though affronted.

Derek raised his hands midair. “Just kidding.”

Stiles face relaxed again and suddenly, Stiles opened his arms wide and closed them around Derek.

Astonished at the physical contact, Derek held still for a moment. Then decided to wrap his own arms around the boy. He hadn’t remembered hugging anyone, since the _bitch._ But this… this felt nice… Stiles’ body was warm and very… inviting. Derek suddenly felt the urge to pull the boy in for a feral kiss, when Stiles finally broke free. The two bided each other good night and Derek turned on his heel to leave feeling a bit disappointed and frustrated.

Driving home, Derek couldn’t help but think… that he wanted to know Stiles better… something has changed within Derek…ever since he laid eyes on the boy in the red hoodie.  

~

It was lunch time and Derek was just throwing out his garbage, before returning to his spot on the empty table. He sat alone (like always) but he didn’t mind. It was convention that right after he ate, he would go on to study or get a head start on homework. 

Derek had taken out his notebook when he felt someone grasp his shoulder.

“Derek?”

It was Stiles.

“Hey! I didn’t know we had the same lunch period! That’s freaking awesome.” Stiles made himself comfortable on the empty seat right next to Derek, his shoulder accidentally nudging Derek with force.

“Hi Stiles.” Derek preferred to sit alone, but for once, he didn’t mind company, or maybe it was just because it was Stiles and there was something about Stiles…

“So you’re done eating eh?”

Derek nodded. “How about you?”

“Oh I ate already too.” Stiles folded his hands, his fingers laced, thumbs fiddling.

Derek tried thinking of something to say, to perhaps start conversation, but his head started hurting from coming with absolutely nothing to say at all.

But it was okay, because this was Stiles he was dealing with and Stilesalways had something to say.

“Hey, so I was thinking….” Stiles began, his thumbs fiddled faster, showing signs of anxiety.

Derek kind of guessed what Stiles was going to say, but he offered a clueless expression, just because nervous Stiles was really… fucking cute…

“Umm, I was thinking, that maybe we should… like hang out or something.” Stiles unlaced his hands and palmed the table.

Derek fidgeted with the pen in his hand and made eye contact with Stiles. “Um, okay.”

Stiles’ eyes broadened in what seemed like a mix of shocked and joy at the same time. “Really!? I mean, cool! That’s great. So how about after school today? Will that be okay?” Stiles placed a hand on the back of his neck.

Derek was kind of astounded at Stiles for being so staggered about the fact that Derek had actually agreed to go hang out with Stiles, he HAD spent the whole yesterday afternoon in Stiles’ room with Taylor music blasting. “Sure, I’m free afterschool.” Derek really didn’t have any plans, other than going back home and locking himself up in his room and reading or work out or something that will just lead Derek to a life of lonely depression.

“Perfect! Okay so I know this really great frozen yogurt place just a few blocks away from the school.” Stiles got up from his seat, when the bell rang. He pointed a finger at Derek, “You okay with frozen yogurt right?”

“Yea.” Derek replied.

“Ok cool! It’s a date!” Stiles winked, a grin plastered on his face.

Derek’s mouth gaped and before he could refute, Stiles had already left. Could it be? Was Derek actually going on a date?

No, it was too soon. He simply wasn’t ready yet.

~

When the final bell rang, Derek was immediately filled with anxiety and if he could pick deeper, there was a tad bit of excitement thrown in there as well… ok who was he kidding, Derek was a hell lot of excited, I mean Stiles was a fun guy, sometimes annoying, but overall a character he was.

Derek waited outside of the school, on the lookout for Stiles, when he spotted a kid darting out of the school entrance, almost tripping over himself when scampering down the staircase. Stiles stopped for a moment and turned his head in every direction, till he found Derek. He waved his hand like a lunatic and jogged towards Derek.

Derek honestly could not tell whether the boy had too much caffeine or if it was just Stiles being Stiles, but when Stiles finally reached him, the vast smile on Stiles’ face showed that Stiles was genuinely just happy to see Derek.

And somewhere deep, deep inside Derek’s hollow of where his heart used to be, before it was ripped out, Derek was fairly _happy_ to see Stiles.

“Hey there bud, let’s get going? I’ve been craving frozen yogurt all day!”

Derek nodded his head as he followed Stiles toward the Frozen Yogurt Place.

~

The Frozen Yogurt Place was delightfully charming and quite petite. The place was empty of customers, until Stiles and Derek walked in. Derek observed the pastel colors of the decorations and paint.  The shop was a do-it-yourself styled yogurt bar.

Stiles grabbed the largest sized cup and placed it under the machine; he pulled the trigger and filled the cup with a swirl of red velvet flavored yogurt.

Derek followed his lead, but chose a smaller sized cup and filled his with pomegranate flavored yogurt.

Stiles then strode over to the toppings bar and began to scoop all different kinds of toppings to put in his yogurt. Derek stared in awe as Stiles literally scooped up one of each topping to put in his yogurt, gummy bears, chocolate chips, 3 different kinds of cereal, mochi’s, peanuts, Oreo bits, reeses bits, m&ms, strawberries, kiwis, and pineapples. Derek could not contemplate how Stiles manage to fit everything on his yogurt, but he did.

Derek skipped the toppings bar, Derek liked his frozen yogurt by itself and besides, topping just made the treat a hell of lot more expensive when they weigh it.

And Stiles’ frozen yogurt was literally four times as expensive as Derek’s.  But Derek offered to pay as appreciation for Stiles’ helping him with his calculus homework. Stiles hesitated at first but Derek managed to convince him, well, Derek had threatened Stiles with yogurt in his face if he didn’t comply.

The boys brought their yogurt over to a small round table complete with a set of pastel chairs. They sat down and began to eat, Derek watched closely as Stiles devoured his frozen yogurt. Damn the kid could eat.

“So freaking good…” Stiles raised an eye at Derek. “Hmm?”

Derek shrugged. “Nothing.”

Stiles shrugged and continued to scoff down his frozen yogurt. He looked up again only to find Derek still gazing at him. Stiles licked the remaining yogurt off his spoon and gently placed it on a napkin. “Okay, I can’t concentrate on enjoying my yogurt if you’re going to just stare at me eating, like dude, your yogurt is going to melt, and you haven’t taken one bite yet.” A small dollop of pinkish yogurt was dribbling from Stiles’ bottom lip.

Derek snickered, “You saving that for later?”

“Huh?” Stiles mouth gaped.

“Here, let me get that for you.” Derek picked up his own napkin and pulled closer to Stiles, he gently wiped the dollop of yogurt from Stiles’ mouth, careful not to smudge it all over his chin.

“Dude…” Stiles’ doe eyes stared widely at Derek.

Derek ate a spoonful of his yogurt. “Hm?”

Stiles cheeks flushed as he turned his head, his eye lids low. “Nothing.” And he picked up his spoon and began to eat again.

As they ate, the two had a typical conversation of how their school day went, which included how crappy their teachers were, the unfairness of how much homework they were given, and some interesting things they learned from class, if anything was learned at all.  Stiles usually had more to say in the conversation, but Derek liked listening.

Derek was in the midst of talking about his calculus lesson in the school today, when a couple that consisted of a man and woman took a seat on the table next to theirs. The man pulled out a seat for the lady (most likely his wife) before he took a seat himself. The lady smiled and looked at the man as if he were the best thing in the world, her cheeks were rosy.

Stiles sighed as he cupped his cheeks with his hands, his elbows on the table. “That is so adorable.” He muttered under his breath.

Derek stopped his rant on how calculus was killing him, and glowered at Stiles when he noticed Stiles wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, but to the older couple seated next door to them. “Um… Stiles?”

“Hmm?” Stiles smiled softly, his eyes still focused on the couple.

“What are you staring at Stiles?” Derek crossed his arms, somewhat jealous that Stiles was no longer giving Derek his full attention.

“Look, they are feeding each other.” Stiles sighed lightly as the woman shared with her boyfriend/husband a spoonful of her frozen yogurt. “Man that is just… beautiful.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “This has something to do with your little obsession with true love and sappy Taylor Swift music, doesn’t it?”

Stiles still didn’t even revert his gaze back to Derek. Taking another deep breath, “It’s just… it’s all the little things… that count… like pulling back chairs, sharing a treat, laughing and giggling, you know, just being in your own little world where nothing matters but your loved one…”

Derek rolled his eyes, if he had a quarter for every time Stiles let out a sigh this past 5 minutes, Derek would be loaded enough to buy the whole damn yogurt shop.

Stiles shook his head and finally returned eye contact with Derek. “Sorry about that. It’s just so nice to see two people in love ya’ know? ”

If he hadn’t known better, Derek swore that Stiles was going to start reciting Shakespeare. Derek snorted.

Derek wanted to shake the kid and tell him for the 100th time that love was literally crap and that falling in love was digging your own grave.  But Derek managed to hold it in when he saw in Stiles’ eyes how much he really wanted the fantasy.  Derek wanted to tell Stiles about his past with the _bitch_ and how there was no such thing as true love, but he couldn’t bring it upon himself to talk about Kate.

“Its fine, Stiles.” Derek said, his eyes looking away from Stiles’ big brown ones. From just looking into his half lidded eyes, Derek could see that Stiles’ mind was still on the couple. The kid was definitely a sucker for love.  It was just sad to think that one day he would have to learn it the hard way like Derek did. There was no pain greater than the pain of heartbreak. Derek shook his head in pity.

“Why are you shaking your head?” Stiles raised a brow.

Derek jerked his head up in reponse. “Huh? Oh. Nothing, sorry.”

There was a slight snicker, “Oh okay. I’m going to pick up two juices to go, one for my dad, do you want anything?”

Derek shook his head. “No thanks.”

Stiles cleared the table of the used napkins and yogurt cups. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, and then we can start heading back.” He went towards the garbage disposers and then made a beeline toward the ordering bar.

Derek placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He turned slightly to gaze upon the couple. They were laughing and giggling and playing footsie under the table. Derek rolled his eyes. Shit like that was not going to last. It feels good in the beginning but it will inevitably come to an end and the more you enjoyed it at the start, the harder you crash in the finish. Derek tapped his fingers on the table awaiting Stiles to get back when suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. It was like the 6th sense, there was a bad vibe Derek jerked his head toward the entrance and gaped in dismay and disgust.

Holy Hell and Satan. The _bitch_ was in the building.

Kate had a smile on her face that Derek used to find attractive, but now it was just pure sinister. She quickly took notice of Derek… and _fuck;_ she began to walk towards him, her heels clicking on the floor. She walked passed Stiles, whose back was turned on them and still ordering the juices.

Derek took a deep breath trying to hold in his anger. He stood up, getting ready to confront the bitch.

“What the fuck.” Derek spat.

Kate smirked. “Well, it’s nice to see you too love, looking cute as ever.” She raised a hand towards Derek’s cheek.

Derek growled and smacked her hand away.

“Ooh. Rough, that’s how I like it.” Kate winked.

Derek gritted his teeth. All of the dreaded memories began to replay in his head. From the very first date where everything was utterly perfect and all puppy love, to the crash and burn on the night he found her cheating on him, with two fucking guys at the same time. Derek had given everything to her, he had planned a whole future with her and she had fucked it all up. She took his heart and ripped it with her bare teeth and here she was now, fucking taunting him. It took all of Derek’s control not to maul the bitch now. He curled his fingers into tight fists.

“Um, is everything okay here?” Stiles was back and he had two cups, one on each hand. He stood next to Derek, who was now shaking,

“Who the fuck are you?” Kate scowled at Stiles.

“Okay woah, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Stiles retorted.

Kate furrowed her brows at Stiles. She was clearly not pleased with Stiles’ presence. Kate crossed her arms over her chest. “Listen kid, fuck you and fuck your mother. Now why don’t you go run along somewhere and let me finish my business with Derek.”

Stiles’ expression was suddenly infuriated at the mention of his mother. “My mom... is dead.” His eyes were narrowed, teeth gritted, breath hitched.

Derek suddenly stopped his blind fury of a glower and placed a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “It’s okay Stiles.”

Stiles shrugged Derek’s hand away. “No. It’s not _okay;_ nobody talks about my mom like that...” His grip on the cups began to tighten.

Kate gave off a shrill cackle. “Ha!” Her eyes reverted back to Derek and then Stiles again. “Oh I see, this is your boyfriend right?” She snorted, making eye contact with Derek. “I always knew you were homo, that’s why I cheated on you anyways. Whatever, I’m leaving now; you two can go have fun sucking each other’s dicks.” She snapped a finger at Stiles. “And your dead mother can kiss my ass. Stupid fa-“

That was it. The bitch had switched on the livid switch in Stiles. He had chucked one of the cups at her, an exploding splash of ice cold orange juice splattered in her face.

Kate gasped in repulsion. “W-what t-the f-f-fuck!?” Her hands were paws in the air. The citrus burned in her eyes. She palmed her face desperately swiping off the ice cubes.

“That’s right asshole, some vitamin C for ya!” Stiles raised the other cup of juice in the air. “And if you’re still thirsty, I got another one coming, bitch.”

Kate snarled, flipping Stiles the finger. “Fuck you.” as she turned on her heels and stormed off, everybody in the shop watching in astonishment.

Derek didn’t know what to say. He watched in silence as Kate walked off in defeat, orange juice dripping from her hair.

Derek placed a hand on Stiles’ back. “That. Was...amazing…” Derek blurted out.

Derek had never laid eyes on someone as badass as Stiles ever in his life.

~

“Thanks for that.”

“Hm?” Stiles looked at Derek as if he really didn’t know why Derek was showing appreciation.

“For that stunt you pulled.” Derek chuckled.

“Oh. THAT.” Stiles snapped a finger dramtically and gave a quick neck roll. “Nobody talks about my mama like that.”

“Ha! But yea, sorry about her.”

Stiles almost took a sip from the juice cup he was holding and stopped halfway when he realized that it belonged to his dad. The one he was supposed to drink from; was all over that Kate bitch. “Who was she anyways, sheesh.”

Derek suddenly felt a tingle in his spine. He really didn’t want to talk about her. Derek rubbed the back of his neck, “Um…She was my ex.”

“She mentioned something about cheating on you?”

Derek didn’t respond, but Stiles could see it in his eyes that he did not want to talk about it.

“Okay, never mind, well that was fun, and I am talking about the date, not the whole dump cold orange juice on crazy bitch ex girlfriend back there, although I do have to admit, I did kind of enjoy the citrus burning her eyes.”

Derek chuckled softly, but his eyes were still scanning the floor. He wanted to tell Stiles that this wasn’t exactly a date, but he couldn’t find another label for the hang out. It was only them two and clearly Stiles had liked him and Derek did kind of enjoy Stiles’ company, so it had to be a date right? Oh who was he kidding, Derek had loved being with Stiles.

Stiles placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yea.” Derek nodded. “I think I’m going to head back home.”

“Okay.”

“Bye Sti-“

Stiles interrupted Derek with a quick embrace.

_Oh fuck, he is hugging me. Should I hug back? Yes you idiot, hug him back!_

Derek quickly folded his arms around Stiles’ back and they both let go after just about 2 seconds.

“I’ll see ya, Derek.” Stiles smiled wholeheartedly as he turned on his heels to leave.

Derek sighed. He didn’t know if it was a sigh of anxiety or contentment, or maybe both at the same time.

~

The next day Derek found out that his English teacher was absent for the day and thus he had a free period. With nowhere to go, Derek decided to head up to the school Library and hang out there for a period. That was where all the kids go anyways when they have a free period or if they just don’t want to go to lunch.

The school library was quite small, there were a few tables for the students to sit in the center, and book shelves covered every wall of the library. There weren’t a lot of books to choose from, usually the interesting books were already checked out. Kids filled up almost every seat available, either studying, chatting with their friends (in whispers of course, it was a library and the librarian was quite the bitch.), and or reading.

Derek scanned the area for a seat, well a seat that was by itself or at least not with a group of people. When he found that there was not one preferred seat available, he turned to leave.

“Derek!” Derek turned at the direction of the familiar voice shouting his name. He squinted his eyes and saw Stiles wave his hands in the air. He was wearing a black baseball cap and red t shirt that stood out in the crowd of kids. Stiles beckoned for Derek to come over to his table where Derek saw that Scott, Allison, and Lydia were sitting.

Derek began to walk over to their table and started to laugh in his head when the librarian raced towards Stiles and began to reprimand him for the shouting.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I won’t do it again.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

The librarian shook a long nailed finger at him. “Stilinski, this is the last time I’m warning you, open your elephant of a mouth again and I will seriously ban you from the library.” Then she turned to leave.

“Thanks.” Stiles said sarcastically at Derek.

“Haha sorry there.” Derek laughed.

Stiles placed his hands in his jean’s pockets. “So whatcha doing here? I didn’t know you come to the library this period.”

From the corner of his eyes, Derek could see Scott, Allison, and Lydia whispering to one another. “My teacher is not here today, so I have a free period.”

“Oh I see, well all of us have a free period.” Stiles gestured at his whispering-like-school-girls friends. “We come to the library every day this period. If you want you can sit with us, we have an extra seat.” Stiles removed his book bag from an extra seat in the table.

“Sure. Thanks.” Derek didn’t have anywhere else to go anyways, and at least he knew Stiles and semi knew Scott, Allison, and Lydia. When Derek sat down, Lydia immediately got up.

“Hi Derek.” Lydia brushed a finger through her hair.

“Hey guys.” Derek waved a hand at the other three.

“Okay well I’m going to go use the bathroom.” Lydia clasped her hands together.

Allison also suddenly got up. “I’ll come with.”

Lydia walked off and out of the library, her heels clicking on the hard floor, Allison sashaying behind her.

Abruptly Scott made a face and then grinned like he knew something that nobody else knew, and he too got up from his seat. “Well um, I’m gonna go check out some… Shakespeare.” Scott almost jogged off towards the play’s section.

Stiles threw his hands up in disbelief. “What. The. Hell. Shakespeare? Really Scott?” He shouted towards Scott, but immediately cupped a hand over his mouth and looked over at the librarian, thank the Gods she wasn’t paying attention.

Derek pulled out his book he was supposed to read for English class and began flipping through the pages as he and Stiles sat alone on the table.

“The Kite Runner? I loved that book.” Stiles placed his chin on his hand, elbows touching the table.

“Yea, it’s for English.” Derek responded, and then found the chapter he left off and began to read.

After a few minutes of reading between the lines, Derek finally realized that he couldn’t concentrate on the book; he raised his eyes towards Stiles, sitting semi-quietly in front of him. Stiles had a Nook in his hand and he was giggling to himself. Derek saw the flush in his cheeks.

Quirking a brow, “What are you reading?” Derek asked curiously.

Abruptly stopping his chuckling, Stiles made eye contact with Derek whom clearly caught him by surprise. The tips of his ears were bright red. “Oh. Um… _The Hunger Games_?”

“Shut up.” Derek said in disbelief. “You are so not reading _The Hunger Games_.”

Stiles pulled the Nook closer to his chest. “Why would I lie?”

Derek raised a hand toward Stiles. “Let me see then.”

“No.” Stiles’ almost squeaked.

“If you aren’t lying then let me see the Nook.”

“No.”

“What? Is it like _The Notebook_ or some Nicholas Sparks novel?” Derek grinned, knowing well that picking on Stiles’ hopeless romantic side would spark some sort of embarrassment.

“Shut up, no it’s not a lovey dovey novel, I told you, it’s _The Hunger Ga_ -“

Derek got up from his seat and pushed himself off the table, lunging at Stiles, grabbing the Nook from his hands.

“HEY!”

 _“I’ll spank you…and fuck you over the table._ ” Derek read out a line from the e-book.

A slight shriek escaped Stiles’ mouth.

“Seriously Stiles? _Fifty Shades of Grey_?” Derek raised a questioning brow.

Stiles’ face was as red as a tomato. “Why do I get the feeling you’re judging me…”

“Cause I am.” Derek bit in a laugh.

Stiles sat back down on his seat. "Fine, I AM reading _Fifty Shades of Grey_ , YES I know it’s a filthy dirty book and I probably shouldn’t be reading it in public…”

Derek handed the Nook back over to Stiles and gave him a half smile. “It’s okay, at least you have the decency to read it on a Nook, I heard reading that stuff was like watching porn or something.”

“It’s actually kinda hot.” Stiles grinned.

Derek rolled his eyes.

“Stilinski. Get out of my library!” The librarian was back, angrier than ever.

“What? Oh… I shouted again… didn’t I?” Stiles looked down at the floor.

The librarian pointed a finger at the door. “Out.”

“Ugh. Fine, bye Derek.”

“Wait, I’ll come with you.” Derek packed his book in his bag and followed Stiles out of the library.

When the bell rang, Derek walked Stiles to his next class, he listened as Stiles’ attempted to defend his dignity by blabbing on about how reading _Fifty Shades of Grey_ was just a guilty pleasure that was sparked by curiosity, in which Derek grinned and replied would a sarcastic “Suuuure.”

~

It was a Saturday afternoon and Derek was working on his second set of push ups in his room, with some Judas Priest blasting from his stereos.  He got up and walked over to his bed to pick up a towel to wipe his sweat and to check the time on his phone. He found a text message awaiting him.

 **‘Hey there! :D’.** It was from Stiles.

Derek had to admit, he was a bit amused to find a message from Stiles. He quickly wrote back. ‘ **Hi’.** Then he slapped his forehead, God was that really all he could write back? Seriously, Derek thought about maybe taking lessons in making conversation.

Within 3 minutes, he received a reply. **‘I was thinking, do u want 2 hang out 2day?**

Derek briefly thought about his plans today, but it didn’t take long for him to realize he really wasn’t planning on doing anything productive at all today, except maybe work out some more, take a nap, and do some reading until his parents came back from work, so they can have dinner. He hastily mashed the keys on his cell phone. **‘Kk, what do u have in mind?’**

**‘idk, lolz, what do u want 2 do?’**

Derek thought about it for a few minutes. When he went out with the bitch, he would often take her to the Zoo; it was where his parents had worked, so he got admittance for free. The Zoo was always a good plan for an adventurous _date._ Hoping Stiles was into the wildlife, Derek texted a reply. **‘Do u like animals?’**

**‘Ya. Why?’**

Perfect. **‘We’re going 2 the zoo, get rdy at around 3ish? I’ll pick u up.’**

**‘kk.’**

Derek placed his cellphone down on the desk and headed over to his dress drawer to pick out some clothes to wear for the engagement. Upon choosing between a t-shirt and a button down, Derek spotted the wolf doll sitting on top of the drawer. He walked over to pick up the plushie, held the doll in his hands, feeling the soft silver fur in his fingers. He then looked away and began to doubt if seeing Stiles was really a good idea afterall…

~

Derek had picked Stiles up in his Camaro at approximatley 3:30. Stiles was grinning, excitement all over his face, when he asked. “So why the zoo?”

“Well my parents work there and I happen to love wildlife.”

“Awesome I can’t wait.”

They arrived at the zoo, and Derek had taken Stiles around the various animal exhibits. Derek had practically known the place and the animals like the back of his hand. Stiles was quite enthusiastic about the animals, he was especially drawn to the monkeys.

When it was finally time for a snack break, they sat by a pond full of ducks; to eat their pretzels.

Derek watched as Stiles pulled apart his pretzel and ate it piece by piece. He seemed so, genuinely _happy_ and it made Derek _happy._ Derek felt his heart lurch as Stiles looked up from his pretzel and made eye contact with Derek.

Stiles raised a brow, his mouth stuffed with pretzel.

Derek chuckled. “Hey, I wanna show you something.” Derek took hold of Stiles hand and they both stood together. “My favorite.” Derek whispered as he led Stiles away from the pond.

Derek had brought Stiles to his favorite part of the zoo. The Wild Wolf Reserves. It was where they kept a small pack of wolves.

Stiles watched wide-eyed in amazement at the majestic grey furred creatures. “Wow. They are beautiful.”

Derek nodded in agreement as he watched the wolves, the magnificent beasts never ceased to impress him. “I love wolves. They are my favorite animals.”

“Yea, me too.” Stiles whispered.

And suddenly, Derek felt Stiles’ hand reaching out for his. Derek smiled as his fingers carefully intertlocked with those of Stiles.

Derek and Stiles held each other’s hands as they spent the rest of the day watching the wolves, together.

~

It was getting late and Stiles had fallen asleep in the car when Derek was driving him back home.

Derek gently nudged Stiles. “Stiles, wake up, you’re home.”

“Mmh.” Stiles rubbed his eyes as he awoke. He turned to Derek and gave a crooked smile.

Oh how badly Derek wanted to kiss the corners of his lips.

“Thank you Derek, for today, I really had a blast.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun too Stiles.”

Stiles grinned.

They both sat in the car just looking at each other smiling and it kind of reminded Derek of when they had first met at the party, with spin the bottle… and how they looked at each other now and how they looked at each other then, were quite similar, except the fact that Derek was now ready, ready to take the kiss.

Derek’s eyes closed slowly as they both leaned in closer to each other…

“STILES?” Someone called from outside.

Fuck.

Derek’s eyes opened with a jolt.

Stiles rapidly checked out the window. “It’s my dad.”

Officer Stilinski was standing outside the house waving a hand at them.

Stiles turned back to Derek and half smiled. “I gotta go. G’night Derek.”

“Good night Stiles.” Derek whispered as Stiles left the Camaro.

Derek watched as Stiles walked back inside his home with his father. Banging his head against the steering wheel, Derek cursed at himself. Frustration quickly enveloped his whole body.

The ride back home was just pure torture, because all he could think of was how close they were to kissing… How badly Derek wanted to taste Stiles’ lips.

~

As Derek entered his room, his eyes immediatley shifted towards the wolf doll sitting on his drawer. Derek bit his lip and stared intently at the plushie, the silver fur was highlighted by the moonlight beaming from his window.

_Suddenly he realized what he had to do..._

Derek grabbed the doll and rushed out of the house in a hurry.

When he got to Stiles' house, he contemplated on whether or not he should ring the door bell. Would Officer Stilinski allow Derek to see his son at this time of night? It was really late…

And then Derek had another idea. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and jammed in a quick text to Stiles. **_‘Open your window, I’m outside.’_**

When Derek had climbed up the back of Stiles’ house, he immediatley realized this was a really, really _bad_ idea. Stiles’ father was a police officer, so he had a gun… And Derek was practically tresspassing. Fuck.

But the negative thoughts went away, when Stiles greeted him by the window.

“Hey there Romeo.” Stiles had his arms crossed over his chest.

Derek smiled as he approached Stiles, careful not to trip and fall to his death.

Stiles stepped aside so Derek could crawl throught he window and into Stiles’ room.

“So what happen?” Stiles yawned stetching his arms. “You came here to take care of some unfinished business?” Stiles winked; a suggestive smirk surfaced on his face.

Derek chuckled. He reached into his leather jacket and pulled out the wolf doll.

Stiles raised a brow.

Derek smiled wholeheartedly as he handed the wolf doll over to Stiles. “This is for you.”

A bright smile lit up on Stiles’ face. Derek had never seen him so happy; this was the kind of reaction Derek had been dying to see ever since he bought the doll as a gift for his loved one. _The doll had finally served its purpose._

“I love it, Derek!” Stiles hugged the wolf plushie to his chest. He reverted his gaze back at Derek. “Thank you.”

Derek grinned. “And now… I’m gonna take care of unfinished business.” He took Stiles by the wrist and pulled him in close for a deep and passionate kiss.

_And in that moment Derek Hale had truly believed in love again._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Questions? My Tumblr can be found here  
> Scarletbane.tumblr.com


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